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Steal Like an Artist

Not quite a post about new music, but an inspiration for all trying to inject some creativity into their life and work. Steal Like an Artist is a book by Austin Kleon that revolves around a list of 10 things he wished he’d heard as a young writer and creator…”a manifesto for creativity in the digital age.” The essence of his message is that creativity is “a mashup of what you let into your life” and urges us to:

Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use — do the work you want to see done.

10. Creativity is subtraction.
It’s often what an artist chooses to leave out that makes the art interesting. What isn’t shown vs. what is.
In this age of information overload and abundance, those who get ahead will be the folks who figure out what to leave out, so they can concentrate on what’s important to them.
Devoting yourself to something means shutting out other things.
What makes you interesting isn’t just what you’ve experienced, but also what you haven’t experienced.
The same is true when you make art: you must embrace your limitations and keep moving.
Creativity isn’t just the things we chose to put in, it’s also the things we chose to leave out. Or black out.

With #10 I’d guess it was a call to simplicity and about using less and being efficient, but that is just my guess. The other 9 definitely resonate with me as things I feel I’ve learned to be true. Good stuff